Asset Broker Voyager Pledges Support for Elrond (EGLD)

Licensed crypto-asset broker Voyager Digital has announced it will list Elrond eGold (EGLD), the native token of the eponymous internet-scale blockchain. The move will enable Voyager customers to buy and trade EGLD directly with the U.S. dollar (USD). 

The announcement comes just weeks after the broker surpassed $200 million in assets under management, up 40x over the preceding 12 months. Voyager’s late-2020 success mirrors Bitcoin’s, with the world’s top cryptocurrency having smashed through its all-time high.

High-Throughput Platform for the Internet Economy

“Voyager is excited to give U.S. customers an easy way to invest in Elrond Network,” said Steve Ehrlich, co-founder and CEO of Voyager. “Investors can download the Voyager App, fund their account, and begin trading within minutes. As our growth accelerates, we will continue to expand our platform and offer our community the most exciting digital assets to invest in.”

Elrond, which will launch its digital wallet and global payments app Maiar on January 31, is a high-throughput platform for distributed apps, enterprise use cases, and the internet economy. Capable of achieving 15,000 transactions-per-second (TPS), the blockchain’s native token can be pledged for staking, used to cover network fees, and dispensed as a reward to validators.

Within the Elrond ecosystem, token holders are incentivized to support the network and mainnet launch by locking EGLD into a smart contract in exchange for rewards. To date, around 55% of tokens have been staked according to the Elrond website, with daily trading volume approaching $100 million and a total market cap of $463m. 

Having already been listed on a number of tier-one exchanges since launching on December 23, EGLD has attracted plenty of interest and Voyager will hope that its investors grab a piece of the action.

Brokers and Funds Are Moving Into Crypto

Founded in New York two years ago, Voyager has quickly become a trusted name in the investment space, and last year purchased Circle’s retail trading app for an undisclosed sum. In securing the acquisition, Voyager also inherited 40,000 retail accounts from Circle Invest, taking its user base to just under 250,000. The highly liquid platform currently supports 55 digital assets, including 22 that are interest-bearing.

In recent years, the number of brokers and hedge funds entering the cryptocurrency industry has soared, and interest is at an all-time high following bitcoin’s recent bull run. According to PwC’s 2020 Crypto Hedge Fund Report, there are around 150 active crypto-focused hedge funds, almost two-thirds of which launched in the previous two years. The total value of assets under management, meanwhile, surged to over $2 billion in 2019 – up 100% from the previous year.

Since that report was published in mid-2020, business intelligence firm Microstrategy completed a $650 million bitcoin buy, while One River Asset Management made “one of the largest digital asset trades in history” with the help of Coinbase. All signs point to rising interest among traditional money managers – little wonder since the Cryptocurrency Index delivered 192.81% over the course of 2020.

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